Items tagged with Internet

In less than a week Nintendo will release its first official Mario game for smartphones, Super Mario Run. It's a big moment for Nintendo, which is starting to embrace gaming on mobile handsets, and Super Mario Run could end up being huge. That is, if Nintendo doesn't get in its own way. The reason that is a concern is because Super Mario Run will require a persistent Internet connection. Series creator and Super Mario Run producer Shigeru Miyamoto explained the decision to require an always-on Interconnection to Mashable in an interview, along with a string of other topics. In short, the online...Read more...

To borrow and butcher a line from Social Network, a 1Gbps Internet connection isn't cool. You know what's cool? A 10Gbps Internet connection. Altice USA, the fourth-largest cable operator in the U.S., is investing in upgrading its entire network infrastructure to a ultra speedy fiber-to-the-home solution capable of delivering speeds of 10 gigabits per second by 2020. "Across the globe Altice has invested heavily in building state-of-the-art fiber-optic networks, and we are pleased to bring our expertise stateside to drive fiber deeper into our infrastructure for the benefit of our U.S. Optimum...Read more...

The world is a big place—around 7.4 billion people, according to recent estimates by the United Nation. The U.N. also estimates that nearly half of the world's population will use the Internet by the end of 2016. Not surprisingly, it's mobile connectivity that will lead the charge, as growth in mobile networks and lower costs combine to make the web a more accessible place.At the same time, the world's poorest sections will still go without Internet access, generally speaking. There exists a significant divide in Internet connectivity between developed countries and those that are developing—about...Read more...

When SpaceX wants to do something, you best believe it's going to be huge. Its latest task? Trying to convince the Federal Communications Commission to let it launch over 4,400 internet-beaming satellites into orbit. To put that into perspective, that's more satellites than the total number in use today. As it stands today, there are 1,419 satellites in orbit hard at work, and some other 2,600 that are inactive and just hogging a piece of space. Even combined, all those satellites still fall short of the number SpaceX wants to deploy, so to call this ambitious is a huge understatement. The goal...Read more...

While the U.S. is coming off a contentious presidential election, no matter how you feel about the outcome, be happy you live in a land where Internet censorship is a non-issue. In contrast, Spain and its ruling Popular Party led by prime minister Mariano Rajoy is making a push in congress to ban the use of memes, which often take the form of captioned images that are humorous and/or snarky. The proposal seeks to disallow "spreading images that infringe on the honor of a person" and makes reference to a law that's nearly a quarter of a century old. If PP politicians get their way, the ban will...Read more...

CenturyLink has entered into a definitive agreement to buy Internet backbone provider Level 3 Communications in a cash and stock transaction valued at around $34 billion. The deal, which was unanimously approved by the board of directors for both companies, bolsters CenturyLink's fiber optic footprint by 200,000 miles, including 64,000 miles in 350 metropolitan areas and 33,000 subsea miles connecting multiple continents. "The digital economy relies on broadband connectivity, and together with Level 3 we will have one of the most robust fiber network and high-speed data services companies...Read more...

Most broadband subscribers in the United States would be giddy as all get-out if 1Gbps service rolled into their area. And for most we imagine it eventually will, just as high-speed Internet eventually supplanted dial-up (though it may take longer than previously hoped now that Google has pressed the pause button on its fiber-optic expansion). But for James Busch, a radiologist living in Tennessee, 1Gbps service would be a major step backwards. To the best of our knowledge (and feel free to correct us in the comments section if we're wrong), Busch is the first and only person in the U.S. with a...Read more...

The hope that Google would eventually roll out its crazy fast fiber optic Internet service to virtually all corners of the continental United States was dashed on Monday when the company announced it was hitting the pause button on future expansion efforts. Google's sudden shift in strategy also means there will be some job losses in the coming days and weeks. What this all means to you depends on where you live. Google isn't completely abandoning its Fiber service. In the eight metro areas where Google Fiber already exists, the service will continue to be offered and supported. Google will also...Read more...

Julian Assange, the famous whistleblower responsible for leaking thousands of documents and hacked emails through WikiLeaks, may be wearing out his welcome in Ecuador. Government officials in Ecuador fessed up to disabling Internet access to the WikiLeaks founder at his embassy in London after the site published more hacked emails from Hillary Clinton's camp. A little background information is necessary to fully understand what's going on. Assange has been living at the Embassy of Ecuador in London for over four years. He had sought and received asylum by Ecuador in 2012 to avoid being extradited...Read more...

Mark Zuckerberg has made it clear on many occasions that one of Facebook's biggest goals is to bring Internet access to everyone, everywhere. As part of that effort, he and his company are in discussions both with officials in the United States government and wireless carriers on how to release an app that would bring free Internet to low-income and rural Americans. The app already exists in some foreign markets, though not without controversy. It's called Free Basics, and it was shot down in India after regulators took issue with the idea that Facebook could handpick the services users could see...Read more...

Comcast's insistence on strapping data caps on customers seems to be at odds with advances in technology as a whole, but tough luck if you're an Xfinity customer, you might getting one anyway (depending on where you live). Remember those 1-terabyte trials Comcast's been trialing in select markets? It's now ready to deploy 1TB (1,024 gigabytes) data caps to a bunch more Xfinity customers across the nation. According to Comcast, more than 99 percent of its customers don't use a terabyte of data on a monthly basis Those who do go over the data limit will be charge $10 for additional 50GB chunks of...Read more...

Image Source: Flickr (Mike Mozart)The race is on to bring gigabit Internet service to as many residential homes across the nation as possible. One of the participants is AT&T, which announced plans to expand its fiber-optic network to 11 more metro areas. The expansion is part of a broader initiative to bring AT&T Fiber, the new name for what was previously known as GigaPower, to at least 67 metro areas, including 45 metro areas by the end of the year. "Customer demand for high-speed connectivity is exceeding even our high expectations. Today we’re also introducing the AT&T Fiber umbrella...Read more...

The United States government has crossed off one item on its endless to-do list. On Saturday the government ceded its oversight responsibilities of the internet to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a global non-profit organization. ICANN will now have control over the internet’s “root zone” where new online domains and addresses are born. The United States government contract with ICANN expired after nearly twenty years. The expiration is part of the government’s plan to “privatize” the internet. Stephen Crocker, ICANN's board chairman, remarked, “This transition...Read more...

If you want faster Internet service, you should move to Washington, D.C. Or stay right where you are and wait for things to get better, as they have been. According to the latest State of the Internet Report by Akamai Technologies, a content delivery network (CDN) player, the average Internet connection speed around the globe hiked up 14 percent compared to a year ago. "The continued increase in average connection speeds is a reassuring trend as online retailers prepare for the busy holiday shopping season," said David Belson, editor of Akamai’s State of the Internet Report. "However, recent Internet...Read more...